Quinolobactin, a new siderophore of Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 17400, the production of which is repressed by the cognate pyoverdine.

Transposon mutant strain 3G6 of Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 17400 which was deficient in pyoverdine production, was found to produce another iron-chelating molecule; this molecule was identified as 8-hydroxy-4-methoxy-quinaldic acid (designated quinolobactin). The pyoverdine-deficient mutant produced a supplementary 75-kDa iron-repressed outer membrane protein (IROMP) in addition to the 85-kDa IROMP present in the wild type. The mutant was also characterized by substantially increased uptake of (59)Fe-quinolobactin. The 75-kDa IROMP was produced by the wild type after induction by quinolobactin-containing culture supernatants obtained from the pyoverdine-negative mutant or by purified quinolobactin. Conversely, adding purified wild-type pyoverdine to the growth medium resulted in suppression of the 75-kDa IROMP in the pyoverdine-deficient mutant; however, suppression was not observed when Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 pyoverdine, a siderophore utilized by strain 3G6, was added to the culture. Therefore, we assume that the quinolobactin receptor is the 75-kDa IROMP and that the quinolobactin-mediated iron uptake system is repressed by the cognate pyoverdine.